Preoperative staging of endometrial carcinoma: diagnostic effect of T2-weighted fast spin-echo MR imaging.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the usefulness of T2-weighted fast spin-echo magnetic resonance (MR) imaging with a 512 x 256 matrix for assessment of the preoperative stage of endometrial carcinoma.


METHODS
Twenty-eight women with histopathologically proved endometrial carcinoma underwent preoperative T2-weighted fast spin-echo, dynamic T1-weighted fast spin-echo, and postcontrast T1-weighted spin-echo MR imaging with a phased-array surface coil. The uterine long-axis planes in each sequence were reviewed at separate sessions by three radiologists blinded to the histopathologic data.


RESULTS
For the diagnosis of myometrial invasion, no statistically significant differences were found among T2-weighted imaging, dynamic imaging, and postcontrast T1-weighted imaging. For the diagnosis of deep myometrial invasion, T2-weighted and dynamic images showed higher specificity than postcontrast T1-weighted images (T2-weighted, 89%; dynamic, 88%; and postcontrast T1-weighted, 80%). For cervical invasion, T2-weighted and dynamic images showed larger areas under receiver operating characteristic curves than did postcontrast T1-weighted images (T2-weighted, 0.78; dynamic, 0.71; and postcontrast T1-weighted, 0.67).


CONCLUSIONS
T2-weighted imaging is useful for identifying the stage of endometrial carcinoma.
Takahashi
S
S
Department of Radiology, Osaka University Medical School, Japan.
Murakami
T
T
Narumi
Y
Y
Kurachi
H
H
Tsuda
K
K
Kim
T
T
Enomoto
T
T
Tomoda
K
K
Miyake
A
A
Murata
Y
Y
Nakamura
H
H
D002277:Carcinoma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D002584:Cervix Uteri / Q000473:pathology; D003287:Contrast Media; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D004717:Endometrium / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009215:Myometrium / Q000473:pathology; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011300:Preoperative Care; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D003287:Contrast Media; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA